Scott Campbell

The tonal balance isn’t an easy one to pull off, and filmmakers vastly more experienced than Crocker have tried and failed, so praise is due to the key creatives for taking something that sounds familiar and perhaps even formulaic on paper, but repainting it as an engaging, emotionally-driven genre film that both is and isn’t what you think it’ll turn out to be.

Dangerous Waters' starts off as one thing, but barrels directly into an absurdly entertaining third act when it decides to throw the shackles off and become something else entirely.

The ambition often outweighs the execution, but Totally Killer is still a fun and bloody riff on several different genres at once.

The Expendables is far from high art, but it’s safe to say the saga has never hit a lower point than it has here, a crushing disappointment for anyone genuinely hoping for the return to form that was promised and demanded.

Without a shadow of a doubt, it’s very much a costly, star-studded, explosive attempt to build a brand new IP from the ground up that the company can call its own, but it’s impossible to shake the feeling that we’ve walked down this exact road many times before. Make of it what you will, but the end product is exactly what you think it’s going to be, for better or worse.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter makes a decent attempt at reinventing the Dracula mythos, but foregoing the early tension in favor of all-out action proves to be its undoing in the end.

Ben Wheatley's blockbuster debut reduces him to an anonymous bystander in a sequel that's inexplicably weaker than its predecessor. If we get 'Meg 3,' then somebody needs to remember these things are supposed to be fun.

Bird Box Barcelona expands the mythology in several new and fascinating directions, but it also makes the mistake of posing several bigger questions that it doesn't seem to want to answer.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a solid action-packed blockbuster that ticks all of the franchise's required boxes, even if it isn't quite a farewell worthy of a cinematic icon.

Extraction 2 is everything you'd expect it to be; bigger, bolder, brasher, louder, and more spectacular. Unfortunately, it peaks way too early and fails to recapture that early momentum.

The Flash is good, and occasionally flirts with excellence, but anyone who goes in heading the game-changer that was promised may be left feeling a touch short-changed.

Kandahar finds Gerard Butler doing what he does best, and while there are some admirable attempts to deviate from formula, the end result isn't going to be regarded among the action hero's top tier.

Fast X doubles down on everything longtime fans have come to know and love about the franchise, but anyone who isn't sold on the saga at this stage isn't going to be won over.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a substantial step down from its predecessor, hardly ideal when the future of the entire franchise likely depends on it.

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre delivers exactly what you'd expect from an R-rated Guy Ritchie spy caper with Jason Statham in the lead role, with the offbeat and energetic espionage adventure worthy of at least a sequel or two.

We Have a Ghost shows plenty of ambition as writer and director Christopher Landon broadens his horizons, but it never feels anything more than a series of disparate parts failing to come together as a satisfying whole.

Despite some third act wobbles, A Lot of Nothing marks a strong, stylish, and suspenseful debut from co-writer and first-time feature director Mo McRae.

As an experience, Avatar: The Way of Water is second to none. In terms of the storytelling, though, James Cameron has fallen into the exact same pitfalls as he did on the first visit to Pandora.

Violent Night delivers everything that was promised, and it's destined to find long-lasting life as a cult classic, but there's barely anything of note beyond the superficial.

Black Adam is nowhere near the game-changing revolution for the DCEU that was promised, but it's a solid introduction for Dwayne Johnson's antihero nonetheless.

Medieval works best when it throws dirt, mud, blood, and body parts at the screen, with the crunching battle scenes just about overcoming the narrative shortcomings.

The Invitation aims high, and while it's regularly impressive on a visual and aesthetic level, the storytelling lets the Gothic horror down in the end.

Me Time has plenty of talent and a potentially interesting hook, but it's quickly drowned in a sea of comic mediocrity.

Samaritan had the potential to stand out among a crowded pack with Sylvester Stallone as a veteran superhero drawn out of retirement, but it doesn't bring anything new or noteworthy to the table.

The effort put forth by James, Tomei, Hauser, and Fimmel just about carries Delia’s Gone over the finish line, which offsets the overall lack of a laser-focused singular method of storytelling that would have improved things exponentially.

Day Shift just about gets by on its impressive action sequences, but everything else about the vampire horror comedy feels more than a little lacking.

When Bullet Train sings it’s often a blackly hilarious and knowingly absurd slice of demented action goodness. When it doesn’t work, self-indulgence begins to creep in, almost as if the creative team deliberately set out to make something that would be fondly remembered as a cult favorite in the years to come, but that’s a sentiment that can only be earned, not cultivated.

The Gray Man delivers on its promise of spectacular globetrotting action escapism, but there's a noticeable spark missing that could have elevated it above formula and into greatness.